A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a mouthpiece for a musical instrument in the Woodwind family, such as a saxophone and the like, and more particularly, to a mouthpiece having a unique lumen for generating sounds more efficiently.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Woodwind instruments are referred to herein as musical instruments consisting of a main body used to define a column of air. As is well known in the art, within the body the acoustic characteristics of the column may be modified by various means that are beyond the scope of this invention. Importantly, the air column is vibrated by a reed disposed in a mouthpiece attached to the body intake by means of a metal, or other material, band. The reed is held on by this band which circumferences the entire outer body of the mouthpiece and which is tightened by a built in tightening mechanism. The present invention pertains to improvements to the mouthpiece.
Mouthpieces for musical instruments have been made for centuries. One musical instrument mouthpiece is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,805. However, the existing mouthpieces still have problems. More specifically, with existing mouthpiece devices there is a trade off between good sound projection and a warm, full bodied sound. In other words, a player had to choose a mouthpiece that had a good sound but did not project well. While a mouthpiece with these characteristics may be useful for solo performances, it was not useful for performances in which the player was part of an ensemble, group or band because his part was lost within the sound produced by the other instruments. Alternatively, if the player chose a mouthpiece that carried well and projected the sounds so that the player could participate effectively as part of an ensemble, the sound quality of the instrument was poor, so that the player preferred not to use it for solo performances. Of course, most performances are mixed, with the player having some solo parts, and some ensemble parts, often within the same song, and therefore changing mouthpieces is not very practical.